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LIFE / Travel
Jul 5, 2000

The Plain of Jars: A place of war and death

PHONSAVAN, Laos -- It should be hard to go missing on the Plain of Jars. But hundreds have.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2000

Strong quakes continue to jolt Izu isles

Nine fairly strong earthquakes, all registering 4 on the 7-point Japanese intensity scale, jolted the islands of Niijima, Kozu, and Miyake in the Izu chain Monday, the Meteorological Agency said.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 4, 2000

Festival fun for the young and those who just wish they were

The main excuses I've heard for not attending one of this summer's two international rock festivals in Japan are: "None of my favorite bands are coming" and "there's hardly any big names."
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2000

Reinterpreting an American classic

Summertime, and the listenin' is easy. No, I don't mean "easy listening"; I mean jazz.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2000

Expert predicts Mori Cabinet will be short-lived

A leading political commentator has predicted that the new Cabinet to be launched by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori today will be short-lived, and that drastic political realignments are in the offing.
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2000

Japan's money-loving youth

With industrialized economies entering the postindustrial age, key issues in domestic politics are shifting their focus from materialism to postmaterialism. The "materialistic" issues include economic growth, income redistribution, welfare, employment, industrial development and international trade....
COMMUNITY
Jul 2, 2000

Noh master calling U.K. college alumni

There was some initial confusion when Naohiko Umewaka requested help in finding graduates of Royal Holloway. What was he talking about? The only Holloway known to this Londoner is the district north of the River Thames best known for the prison of the same name. Now here was a story! Japan's best known...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 2, 2000

Machiko Kobayashi

In "The Book of Tea," Okakura Kakuzo refers to the person "with no tea" in him, the one "insusceptible to the seriocomic interests of the personal drama." He mentions too the one "with too much tea" in him, "the untamed aesthete." Machiko Kobayashi, tea ceremony teacher and demonstrator, falls into neither...
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2000

Softbank gets nod to buy NCB

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Friday approved the final agreement on the sale Aug. 1 of the nationalized Nippon Credit Bank to a consortium led by Internet investor Softbank Corp.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2000

Snow low-fat milk makes over 1,500 sick in Kansai

OSAKA -- Health authorities have announced that 1,524 people have complained of illness in Osaka and seven other prefectures in western Japan after drinking low-fat milk products produced by Snow Brand Milk Products Co.
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2000

The money-laundering hall of shame

After years of mounting frustration, the world is cracking down on countries that launder money and shelter funds for criminal enterprises. Several recent reports have identified primary offenders in the fight against money laundering. Sanctions are not yet on the agenda, but shame alone seems to be...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2000

Take the sunset road to Fukuoka's natural lifestyle zone

"Everyone wants to head west," an architect friend told me recently. "It's natural. That's where the sun sets, and where thoughts of relaxation turn to at the end of the day."
EDITORIALS
Jun 28, 2000

The finest map in the world

Rival researchers this week announced that they had completed a draft model of the human genome -- the blueprint of the human being. The breakthrough was hailed as "a milestone in science," a "revolution in medical science" and "the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind." For once,...
JAPAN / History
Jun 28, 2000

China's Korean War POWs find you can't go home again

BEIJING — In a hotel room in the Yangtze River port of Wuhan, a dozen elderly Chinese men fight back tears to sing a song written almost 50 years ago in a U.S. prisoner-of-war camp in South Korea. At the end of the song, their tears flow freely, for friends lost in the conflict and for their own harsh...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 28, 2000

Venables likes France's chances at Euro 2000

BRUSSELS -- Former England manager Terry Venables is tipping France to win the European Championship. Venables, who led England to the semifinals of Euro 96 in England, has been impressed by the improvement in the French team since it won the World Cup two years ago.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 28, 2000

Online education

A high school graduate who wants to wait a year before going home for her university education was invited to attend the University of Maryland University College graduation in April. There she heard reference to a program that provides online courses at a global university. She wonders if she could...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 28, 2000

Beguiling smiles along an ancient road

All Silk Roads lead to Xian, China's capital during some 2,000 years of its history and the cosmopolitan center of East-West trade during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2000

Signs of generational change

The voters' real message in Sunday's elections for the House of Representatives is ambiguous at best. It can be interpreted in several important ways. In terms of the sheer number of seats won, it means a victory for the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Conservative...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

G7 to agree on reform of IMF lending process

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven economic powers are likely to agree on a set of reforms to International Monetary Fund lending mechanisms at their talks in Japan in July, a source in international finance said Monday.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2000

Bread Man not quite off his loaf

Tatsumi Orimoto, otherwise known as the "Bread Man," has finally cracked the Japanese art scene with "Art Mama + Bread Man," an extraordinary exhibition of photos, videos and live performances at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. Street performance is in the house and Orimoto will nevermore be a "dirty,...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 25, 2000

Again and again

A part of this is from a column written in 1993 about "ijime" (bullying). It was not the first, and today I can't even recall that specific case. There have been so many. At the time I objected to the newspaper comment that ijime had been a serious problem for a decade. Brutal discrimination against...
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2000

Victory predicted for LDP

The major Japanese newspapers that conducted polls on the June 25 Lower House election this week made these stunning forecasts:
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

High school nurses compile Battle of Okinawa memoirs

The alumnae association of a girls' high school in Okinawa has published a collection of testimonies by former students who survived the World War II Battle of Okinawa, officials of the group said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Bankruptcy declared for realtor, unit

Real estate developer EIE International Corp. and its affiliate General Lease Co. have been declared bankrupt by the Tokyo District Court, a private credit research agency said Wednesday.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI
Jun 22, 2000

Kin want focus on youth crime

While economic recovery may be the focal issue for the June 25 election, Ruriko Take, head of the Association for Victims of Juvenile Crimes citizens group, believes juvenile issues should be given more attention as they concern the people who will lead society in the future.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Sanwa plans Internet bank by yearend

Sanwa Bank said Wednesday it plans to establish an Internet bank in July at the earliest, with an eye to launching deposit-taking and settlement operations by year's end.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jun 22, 2000

Can Daley win it for Gore?

WASHINGTON -- I saw it coming. Tony Coehlo, chairman of the Gore 2000 presidential campaign, was reported to be hospitalized for some form of unidentifiable stomach problem and his aides are reporting that he is suffering from fatigue. Yes, his end was coming.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?